Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

It’s an event that is sponsored every year by the American Library Association and a whole host of other organizations to celebrate the Freedom to Read. This year, ALA is partnering with We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) to bring more attention to the unfortunate fact that books by diverse authors or with diverse content are more commonly banned or challenged than other books.

Banned Books Week focuses on efforts across the U.S. to remove or restrict access to books. I’m going to put on my librarian hat here to say that the reasons that someone might want to restrict access to, or ban, a book are many and varied. While when someone says “banned books” most people think of sex, in real life anything that makes some people uncomfortable will incite in those people the idea of banning that book so that other people aren’t exposed to whatever it is that just made them uncomfortable.

Violence gets challenged. Speaking truth to power gets challenged. Books that contain historical truths that make people uncomfortable get challenged. Books that appear to uphold an opposing, untraditional or unpopular viewpoint get challenged. And yes, books that include sexual references, or even merely seem to include sexual references, often get challenged.

But Banned Books Week is all about the Freedom to Read. Just because a book upsets one person, or even a whole group of people, does not mean that those who are upset have the right to prevent others from reading that book. If one person’s meat is another person’s poison, then one person’s book to ban is another person’s book to cherish.

For more information on Banned Books Week, including the absolutely fascinating lists of frequently challenged books, visit the official Banned Books Week site. The books on those list are guaranteed to contain more than a few surprises.

In my own celebration of Banned Books Week, I’m participating in the Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop. The prize is either a $10 Gift Card or a $10 Book, so that you can get your own Banned Book to read.

I already know that Captain Underpants is considered a banned book but seeing it on the list never fails to amuse me. Can’t some people take a joke? 😂

I didn’t expect House of Night to be on the list though. And for being “occultic and demonic” 😂😂 and it seems that Twilight is on the list for the very same reason as well… So does that mean that by default all paranormal books are “occultic and demonic”? 😐

I am apparently finding a different list than some (and I did find the 25 most feared books – GREEN EGGS AND HAM????!!!!), but found myself intrigued to find Running with Scissors on the list. I suppose I can understand why someone might not want a first-grader to read it (assuming the first grader had such advanced reading skills), but it is certainly appropriate for adults. Then again, I suppose people who try to ban a book aren’t exactly rational, are they?

Quite a few surprised me, largely because of my familiarity with the books themselves– but not with their [once-]banned status. A sampling:
– O’Brien, Tim: The Things They Carried
– London, Jack: The Call of the Wild
– Cooney, Caroline: The Face on the Milk Carton

I’m shocked to see Anne Frank on that list. Anne’s diary gave us an opportunity to see what it was really like during the Holocaust. It’s a huge part of history and by banning it, we’re taking away from our kids knowledge of what happened during that time.

I think the number of childrens books always surprises me! But when I was younger my mom actually gave me a list of banned books and told me to read them and we’d discuss… but then again she’s a librarian! 🙂

I knew that the Absolutely True Story of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie was on there, but I didn’t know exactly why. It states racism, among other things. I don’t think that we should turn our eyes from racism. I’ve encountered it so many times, and I know people who were non-native who could not believe that I had it happen to me. Like? What? It happens! 🙁 Anyway, I’m about teaching my children not to see colors like that, but to see the good and yes, the hate in others. It will show who is safe and who is not. I don’t want my kids to be blind to racism, but to be aware that it exists.

I was surprised to see Anne Frank: The Diary of a Girl, Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X; Alex Haley, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. If a true story is banned, then it’s like banning someone’s life, and that is unacceptable to me.